South Sudan faces race test to clear COVID vaccine doses

Barely a month ago, over 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were delivered in South Sudan. The first consignment was delivered by the World Health Organization and partners to the Ministry of Health.

That was followed by the delivery of 60,000 additional doses shipped in with funding from MTN and the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention just a few days later.

But the pace of vaccination has been sluggish. More than a month after the vaccines arrival, less than 5,000 people have received their first jab with little to no hope of getting the second.

The 60,000 vaccine doses procured by MTN and CDC have expired before usage thanks to the short validity span. On the other hand, the government-procured doses are expiring in July.

Pace of vaccination

 In the space of one month, only 3,700 people got vaccinated. If the government continues at that pace, just 11,100 people would have gotten their first jab leading to 120,900 doses being dumped or recycled. Empirically, the success of the COVID-19 vaccination would have fallen flat.

Blame it on poor timing by MTN and CDC and poor logistical arrangements by the government.  

Dr. Atem Nathan Riak Anyuon, the Director General for Primary Health Care Program, at the National Ministry of Health says the country could have vaccinated more people than it had so far done. But due to poor arrangement from the onset, the vaccination process is not going smoothly.

“The vaccine alone is not the only story, the really story is that the poor arrangement of the whole process has categorically delayed us and made us to move at the current speed,” Dr. Anyuon told City Review exclusively.

Missed targets

He says the donation of vaccines was just but a standalone story, adding that no sensitisation was done to the public on the vaccines would be administered.

“What our donors did was that, they rushed to bring the vaccines but forgetting that people need to be trained first on how to give the vaccines to people. Secondly, awareness was not done to the South Sudanese public skeptical about the COVID-19 vaccines,” he said. 

The director lamented that, “We could have used the 60,000 doses of the vaccine if we had trained health personnel on how to give it, and if people were ready waiting for the jabs.”

According to Dr. Anyuon, the procedure would have clearly started with awareness and training to health personnel since the vaccine is distinct from vaccines.

Vaccine inefficacy

Rumours on blood clotting in the brain allegedly caused by the COVID-19 AstraZeneca vaccine has caused panic among the public who have little to no confidence in the vaccine. Their skepticism seems justified.

“This vaccine is not just like other vaccines. First you need to explain to the people and people need to get and accept the concept, because this vaccine was given on emergency use license, it has not completed all the research on it to be left to be used freely,” a chilling remark from the director further reveals.

In another unprecedented yet dismal arrangement, the vaccine was surrendered under the custody of the government prior to any monetary transactions. The World Health Organization and partners expected the State to pay for the vaccine before it is used.

The sum of money in question has not been disclosed. But City Review was reliably informed that the government does not have the money and that the vaccination done so far was based on negotiations with health partners.  

“Yes, the vaccine came without a proper arrangement, and came without a budget to facilitate all the process. So, while we are trying to mobilize resources, the 60,000 doses expired, which could have been used if the country prepared earlier,” Anyuon said.

The 60,000 doses of expired vaccine were received two weeks to expiry date, which, he says was received in wrong time when the country was unprepared.

Negligence

The vaccine is supposed to last for eight months from the date of its manufacturing, but this critical aspect was disregarded by the purchasers of the vaccine.

“It seems like it was first taken somewhere before it made its way to South Sudan. So, it made it difficult for us to use the 60000 doses in two weeks,” he pondered.

While the vaccination process is rolling, worry remains. Anyoun says the process could be halted anytime over issues related to financial transactions.

“What we are worried of is that up to now the payment for the vaccination has not been done by the government because the vaccine needed to be paid for even the donors that promised us to give something up to now we did not get anything from them,” he disclosed.

“The good news is that COVAX facility has undertaken to give us vaccine to vaccinate twenty 20 per cent of our population which is 2.4million population so the vaccine will keep coming if we manage it,” he said.

South Sudan has a population estimate of 12 million. Vaccinating 2.4 million would be an underwhelming achievement.

Bad donation

All COVID-19 vaccines have their storage demands. But South Sudan does not have proper storage facilities.

“So the real thing was what is called dumping. Just take and you go and dump [the vaccine] there and make them [the government] responsible and call it a donation. For me, I call it a bad donation. the worse thing it was [done by] our own so-called AU,” Anyuon said.